Wireless communication systems are well known in the art. Generally, these systems include various communication stations which transmit and receive wireless communication signals between one another. One type of wireless system, called a wireless local area network (WLAN), can be configured to conduct wireless communications between various wireless devices equipped with WLAN modems or adapters and either discrete base station devices or other similarly equipped wireless devices in an ad hoc, peer-to-peer manner.
Various types of WLAN protocols have been developed based around several communication industry standards, such as WiFi (a commonly used name for the IEEE 802.11x family of networking protocols) and Bluetooth, each of which enable data exchange over a radio link between devices. Currently, WLAN adapters associated with one or more of these protocols are being integrated into various types of computing and communications devices, such as personal digital assistants (PDA's), laptop or notebook computers, mobile telephones, digital television set top boxes, etc.
As indicated above, one popular WLAN environment typically using one or more WLAN access points or base stations is built according to the IEEE 802.11b standard. In one implementation of this technology, publicly accessible wireless service areas or “hot spots” may be geographically defined through placement of associated access points. These types of wireless communication systems are advantageously employed in public areas, such as airports, coffee shops, hotels, etc. More ambitiously, larger geographic areas, such as parks, city blocks, college campuses or entire towns may also be configured as hot spots by providing a suitable number of access points. Access to these public networks usually requires user authentication procedures. Additionally, connection to such networks may result in the incursion of predetermined fees relating to connection duration, data throughput or both.
To cover an area with a wireless network, the area is provided with a sufficient number of access points so that a computing device within the area can maintain a connection within at least one of the access points. As a computing device moves through the area covered by the network, the access point with which it is connected changes. As the signal strength from a first access point weakens, the signal from a second access-point is likely to become relatively stronger than the signal from the first point, in which case the computing device switches to the second access point. Therefore, the number of computing devices with which any one access point is in communication is likely to vary.
According to the 802.11x protocol, an access point polls each of its connected wireless devices and communicates with that computing device for a predetermined period of time, before breaking the communication and polling the next connected computing device. Accordingly, as the number of computing devices connected to any one access-point increases, the percentage of any one time period in which a base station is in communication with the computing device decreases. This decrease in the percentage of time can lead to a reduced network performance. Indeed, the network performance may drop below that required to provide certain functions.
Because hotspot connections may result in a charge being applied to a connected device's user, it is desirable for users to be made aware of connection status and other information associated with potential charges. Accordingly, there exists a need for systems and methods for effectively providing such information to users of wireless networks.